Maple sapling?
by
Donna N
+42
Ok, here's an update on what I thought was a maple sapling. Now that it's bigger I'm starting to doubt whether it is or not. Can somebody help me identify this little tree? The leaves have somewhat of a rough feel to them. Not smooth like Maple leaves.
45 answers
-
It looks like a mulberry maybe.
Michelle Eliker
on Jun 03, 2013
-
That's what I'm afraid of Michelle! I sure hope it's not!!
Donna N
on Jun 03, 2013
-
yes a Mulberry for sure, not a maple
Melanie Ritchie
on Jun 04, 2013
-
Another vote for Mulberry....which is a great tree for providing a rich food source for birds...just do not park your shinny new Beemer under or near it.
KMS Woodworks
on Jun 04, 2013
-
Looks like a mulberry. Yummy berries. The birds can make quite a mess near it and it can grow to be quite large.
P
on Jun 04, 2013
-
And birds will poop purple messes all over, making you the toast of the town with anybody who uses a clothesline.
Lori J
on Jun 04, 2013
-
I agree with everyone else.. Mulberry trees are such a nuisance and they do grow to be huge. The birds love the berries but they sure make a mess after eating them. I'd get rid of it ASAP, unless you like mulberries.
Charlotte MacDiarmid
on Jun 04, 2013
-
Thanks everyone for your help!! Since I have "raised" this little thing, It's hard to just trash it and let it die. So I've decided to plant it in a nearby field. Guess I will just have to buy a maple tree this fall. Thx again everybody!
Donna N
on Jun 04, 2013
-
Here is where I order my plants, they are always in great condition and relatively inexpensive. They are rather small...a foot or two when received but you can depend on quality from here....http://www.arborday.org/shopping/trees/trees.cfm
LeAnn Shultz
on Jun 04, 2013
-
I agree, not maple but I also don't think it is mulberry.
Janette
on Jun 04, 2013
-
I don't thing so..Look's more like an oak!
Debby Boyle
on Jun 05, 2013
-
Well, now I don't know what to do...I really would like to know whether it's Oak or Mulberry because it directly affects where it's going to be planted....Douglas Hunt, if your out there somewhere I could use your expertise right now!!
Donna N
on Jun 05, 2013
-
Its not an oak...red oaks and pin oaks have leaves with sharp tips, white oaks have more rounded lobes. http://treedoctor.anr.msu.edu/oakwilt/2redoak.jpg http://alleghenymountainhardwoodflooring.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/white-oak-leaf.jpg?w=138 Mulberry leaves can be a bit variable https://www.google.com/search?q=mulberry+leaf&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ukCvUfniE4W6yAHU6YG4DA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=461
KMS Woodworks
on Jun 05, 2013
-
definitely not an oak. Have you tried asking the agent at your county extension service or forestry service?
Lindsay Jackson
on Jun 05, 2013
-
I just emailed them some pictures Lindsay. Hopefully I'll hear something soon.
Donna N
on Jun 05, 2013
-
Could possibly be a non bearing mulberry. We have one and your photo really favors what ours looks like.
Jerre Haag
on Jun 05, 2013
-
I have one just like it. Not a mulberry, thought it might be an oak. It's still a mystery. It appeared in my yard 2 years ago, I transplanted it the first year and it is now about 8 feet tall.
Terri G
on Jun 05, 2013
-
mulberry
Laura Kranz McDonough
on Jun 05, 2013
-
Yeah Terri, this one showed up in one of my flower pots I had outside last fall. I just let it grow thinking it was a maple. Now I don't know what to think....Does the one you have bear any kind of fruit? Is it a pretty tree? Can you post a picture of yours? I would love to see it!
Donna N
on Jun 05, 2013
-
It can take a few years for a plant to mature to a point where it will produce fruit or reproductive structures. I have some pines in my yard that are 20 years old and have yet to produce "cones".
KMS Woodworks
on Jun 06, 2013
-
Donna, I hope these pictures help. I have had my tree for 2 years this July. It started on the other side of the house and I moved it one January to this location. The pergola's height is 10 or 12 feet tall for comparison. No fruit of any kind at this point. I've also included a picture of the leaf of my neighbor's mulberry tree leaves for comparison.
Terri G
on Jun 07, 2013
-
Thx so much for the pictures Terri. The leaves of your mystery tree looks very similar to mine!! Maybe the same bird that dropped the "seed" there visited me too! LOL. Are the leaves of your tree a little rough? My little tree's leaves are not smooth but not super rough either. I sent an email with pictures to the County Extension Office a few days ago but have not heard back yet. I'll be sure to let you know as soon as I do. We may have stumbled upon a new "species!" I know it is not a mulberry!! I'm going to plant it this fall by the back fence as I like the looks of it in your pictures! Thx again and I'll let you know what I find out!!
Donna N
on Jun 07, 2013
-
Neither a Maple nor an oak, but I don't know what it IS. LOL Bring it to your local garden center, or even florist ?
Jossi
on Jun 07, 2013
-
I used to have one of these. Definitely a mulberry. Absolutely not an Oak of any kind.
P
on Jun 07, 2013
-
OK Terri, I haven't heard anything from Extension Office yet, but I found this picture online. This is what I believe our trees to be. What do you think?
Donna N
on Jun 08, 2013
-
Looks very similar to what we have Donna! So...what is it? LOL! By the way, notice the leaves of the tree growing on one side...that looks like mulberry. The leaves on my tree are not super rough (fig-like), nor are they super smooth. It's pretty, whatever it is and if it's a bearing mulberry, so be it...I'll save on bird seed and it will provide a snack for my grandkids. They can't be any worse than our honey locust trees that multiply at the same rate that the birds poop and those roots I have come to find out are pretty invasive, too.
Terri G
on Jun 08, 2013
-
Fruitless Mulberry. The leaves on mine are the same as yours. Not smooth, but not super rough. Until I hear something from Extension Office, I'm going to assume that this is what it is....Click on the picture and follow the web address I wrote at the bottom...
Donna N
on Jun 08, 2013
-
http://ppwsipm.contentsrvr.net/mulberry.php
Michelle Eliker
on Jun 08, 2013
-
So it appears the consensus is that it is a mulberry. I thought mulberries were supposed to flower before the leaves sprout in the spring. I know my yard gets full of the flowers from my neighbor's tree in the spring. Mine just sprouts leaves every spring...no flowers, no berries.
Terri G
on Jun 17, 2013
-
If it is a "non-fruit bearing" Mulberry, it wouldn't get flowers or berries. I still haven't heard back from the extension office. I've emailed them twice! I'm not completely convinced that they are Mulberry trees, but the leaves of the one in the last picture I found online sure looks a lot like it.
Donna N
on Jun 17, 2013
-
Well, if a "non-fruit bearing" mulberry doesn't get flowers or berries...then what are all those annoying caterpillar looking things that fall from my neighbor's non-bearing mulberry that literally cover my yard in the Spring? I thought they were the flowers that start irritate everyone's allergies. Now I'm thoroughly confused! LOL!
Terri G
on Jun 18, 2013
-
@Terri G Those "catapiller' Things are Catkins, which is the male Pollen producing flower. http://tree-species.blogspot.com/2011/04/white-mulberry-spring-flowers.html
KMS Woodworks
on Jun 19, 2013
-
That's what I always thought they were...hence my confusion.
Terri G
on Jun 19, 2013
-
Now I'M confused! LOL! I didn't realize your neighbor's tree was a non fruit bearing tree. I didn't think they would flower either. Does it get the berries also?? My pecan trees get those "catkins" in their producing year but not in the non producing year. You would think if they flower, they also produce? Oh well, guess it doesn't matter. I'm going to plant it this fall anyway! LOL!!
Donna N
on Jun 19, 2013
-
Ours get the catkins, but has never produced any fruit for over 20 years now.
Jerre Haag
on Jun 20, 2013
-
My neighbor's tree which is about 50 years old (I'm guessing) has never produced berries because generally the non-fruit bearing mulberry doesn't. It has catkins every Spring and they leave a huge mess in my yard and those are the irritants for allergies because they have so much pollen. I have a nectarine and an apple tree...they flower every year, but take turns producing fruit...one year we'll have small nectarines, next year we'll have apples. Go figure! Enjoy your tree...whatever it is!
Terri G
on Jun 21, 2013
-
Thx Terri! I plan on planting it this fall. And...I have 2 pecan trees that do the same thing. I get pecans from one of them one year and pecans from the other one the next year. They've been alternating like that for 20 yrs. Mother Nature is weird! LOL! Enjoy your tree too!!! :-)
Donna N
on Jun 21, 2013
-
@Douglas Hunt can you help me with this one?
Donna N
on Jun 29, 2013
-
Donna, what you are experiencing is known as alternate bearing, and it is quite common with pecans: http://www.caes.uga.edu/commodities/fruits/pecanbreeding/cultivars/alternate_bearing.html At least you are lucky that you have two trees on different schedules.
Douglas Hunt
on Jun 30, 2013
-
Thanks for the info on the Pecan trees @Douglas Hunt but what I needed help with was identifying the little tree. I know 98% of those who replied said Mulberry, but I'm not convinced. I've contacted a couple arborists and one said Bur Oak the other said Rose of Sharon. So I was wondering what you thought...
Donna N
on Jun 30, 2013
-
Burr oak have "longer" leaves and they are not rough like a mulberry. https://www.google.com/search?q=Bur+oak+leaves&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=3YrRUcq5CYWzywH344CwDw&ved=0CDgQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=461
KMS Woodworks
on Jul 01, 2013
-
I'm afraid I'm not very good at leaf ID, Donna, but that does not look like any Rose of Sharon leaf I've ever seen.
Douglas Hunt
on Jul 01, 2013
-
Hey @Terri G my tree is a white Mulberry. I don't know if yours is one also but a nursery in OKC identified it today and said 100% Mulberry. Mine will have a lovely home down by the creek!
Donna N
on Jul 08, 2013
-
Well, it's good to know what we're dealing with now Donna N! I plan to relocate mine to the front yard of the house come late winter...I'm afraid the root system of a mulberry will wreak havoc on the sewer lines that run from the back of the house towards the alley. This way there's more room for the plethora of Honey Locust trees that seem to be sprouting every other week!
Terri G
on Jul 09, 2013
-
Looks like a mulberry to me. They are all over up here and they make a mess.
Peg
on Jul 10, 2013
Sign Up to Answer
